Premature females laying eggs..

[Mj442k]

I know alot of people are against young females laying eggs or being paired up too early for breeding but why not if she's laying duds and experiencing laying eggs Anyway? Thoughts?

 

[Little Chahoua]

I think is the amount of stress the female goes through in breeding session that crack the young female. I have herd that lots of Ballpython breeders point out ball pythons that they don’t need do come up to a special weight if they still lay eggs, but I think young females choose to escape rather than stay in the wild. Now they don't have much to choose when the couple is trapped in a terrarium. that is my opinion

 

[Michael]

I know alot of people are against young females laying eggs or being paired up too early for breeding but why not if she's laying duds and experiencing laying eggs Anyway? Thoughts?

This year, I had a female lay her first egg at 15 months old. For me, that was a new personal (low) record and made me reflect on some of this.

When I consider the fitness of a female gecko to breed, I consider three things:
1) Age
2) Weight
3) Has she laid duds already?

Some geckos do mature faster, eat more, grow quickly, lay eggs around 18 months and can be ready to breed by 2 years. Some take much longer, and it's those who you have to worry about. For me, if a female has crossed the 50 gram mark, is 2 years old, and has laid a nice set of dud eggs, I am willing to pair her up. If she is missing one of those, I err on the side of caution and try to wait it out.

Right now, I have a smaller stature female who is 2 years old and I can tell that she is getting close to laying duds, but she hasn't yet - despite her age - and I'm trying to give her extra time to gain weight and maybe get larger before pairing her. Regardless, she will be paired in 2021 because at that point she will be 3 years old.

 

[Little Chahoua]

That 15 months young female is she from your production? Regards

 

[Michael]

That 15 months young female is she from your production? Regards

She is not... I bought her at about 10 months old, so she had been here for about 5 months when she dropped those eggs. She is now gaining weight and growing like she was before, so I'm hopeful that she will be ready for the 2021 season.

 

[Little Chahoua]

Ok cool sounds like a good plan about what age do your production usually mature?